The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Title: The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Text: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:15-17)

Bible Reading: (John 14:15-19)

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

Introduction

We all like to receive gifts.

Parents enjoy receiving gifts from their children and children enjoy receiving gifts from their parents.

Husbands enjoy receiving gifts from their wives and wives enjoy receiving gifts from their husbands.

All of us enjoy receiving gifts from our friends.

Employers enjoy receiving gifts from their employees and employees enjoy the gift of a turkey on Thanksgiving or a bonus for Christmas.

There are times when we give gifts to strangers and there are times when we get gifts from strangers.

But God is the greatest giver of gifts.

James declares, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

The only gifts that God bestows are good gifts.

My friends, if you have a good gift, it came from Him.

Count your many blessings today: the sunshine, the rain, the cloudy day, the bright day, the green grass, the water you drink and the air you breathe.

God gave us clean air and pure water.

It is man who has polluted it.

God gives good gifts, my friends.

God is good!

You and I don’t really understand how good He is.

Our Lord contrasted the good gifts of God with the ability of fallen men to give good gifts to their children.

He said in Matthew, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).

The point is that even sinful men are kind to their children; therefore, how much more will your heavenly Father delight to answer your prayers.

The message today has three points.

We will see that God’s gifts are always given with the right motive, and they are always appropriate.

And the final point is that we need to recognize and appreciate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit.

I want to say first that GOD ALWAYS GIVES HIS GOOD GIFTS WITH THE RIGHT MOTIVE.

All of us have received a gift at some time, which did not come with the highest motives.

But when God gives a gift, it is always with the proper motive.

I can say that, because God’s gifts come to us as an expression of His love.

Consider His greatest gift; His Son.

Our sin was not enough to put Jesus on the cross.

It took more than that.

It took God’s great love for us to nail Him to that rough wooden cross.

There isn’t a greater verse in the Bible than this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Here we have the gospel in a nutshell.

It’s the love of God shown in action.

(1) The source of love—God.

(2) The extent of love—the world.

(3) The sacrifice of love—He gave his only begotten Son.

(4) The results of love—whosoever believeth in him should not perish.

Jesus was God’s love gift to us.

God’s gifts are not substitutes for His love.

Instead they are the expression of His love.

They never come as a payment or as a bribe, because God doesn’t owe us anything, and there is nothing that we have that God needs.

God’s gifts are also an indication of His hope for us.

We should recognize His gifts as a declaration of our worth.

And that His gifts come to us as an expression of His divine confidence in us.

Let me ask you a question.

How much are you worth to God?

You are worth the blood of His only Son, because that is what He paid for you.